M2M providers make global moves as market grows 40% annually

Portugal-based CoSwitched, an Internet of Things (IoT) mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) facilitating Machine-2-Machine (M2M) voice, messaging and data communications, has expanded the coverage of its no-frills M2M service outside Europe, to six additional countries: Australia, Israel, Russia, South Africa, South Korea and USA, meaning that it will operate in a total of 35 countries in five continents. Bruno Duarte, co-founder of CoSwitched, said: ‘We have seen demand from our existing customers and potential ones to work in countries outside Europe (e.g. British companies deploying devices in South Africa or Australia) … This launch allows us to expand the coverage of our no-frills connectivity service and better serve those manufacturers and owners of connected machines. Our M2M connectivity service will work seamlessly in any country, in Europe and outside Europe.’ CoSwitched SIM cards are available from EUR1.50 (USD2.05) per month (including VAT) for a basic pricing plan including 5MB of data per month useable in 35 countries. As previously reported by CommsUpdate, in March this year CoSwitched soft-launched its SIM-based M2M service across third-party mobile networks in 23 European countries.

In other M2M news, UK-based global mobile connectivity solution provider Podsystem has enabled its customers in Europe and the US to expand their M2M businesses outside their home markets with a flat data rate across European Union (EU) countries and the US on their corporate APN (Access Point Node – allowing data SIM cards to connect securely to a network). Podsystem’s solution includes a proprietary SIM card with ‘best signal’ multi-network connectivity across all EU countries plus the US at no additional cost, combined with the ‘FreedoM-2-Manage’ platform providing what it calls ‘real-time granular control of M2M data usage’, plus allowing the M2M customer to own their multi-network SIM card (‘usually the property of the core network’) and ultimately control access to multiple IMSIs (international mobile subscriber identities) with separate network infrastructures on the same SIM Over The Air (OTA).

According to recent GSMA studies, the global M2M market was approaching 200 million wireless connections by the end of 2013, showing annual growth of around 40%, while in North America M2M accounted for almost one in ten connections to cellular networks at that date.